Mar 15, 2017

Todo Indicator Fork Adds Context Filtering [Quick Update]

Todo Indicator is an AppIndicator to for todo.txt-style todo lists. The indicator displays the list of tasks from a todo.txt file and lets you mark tasks as done directly from the indicator.

The originalTodo Indicator was last updated back in May, 2014, so WebUpd8 reader William decided to fork it and add a new feature: filtering based on a specific context or project. Furthermore, indicator was updated to work with either Python 2 or Python 3.

To filter todo items, run Todo Indicator as follows:

todo-indicator -f @filter ~/todo.txt

Were "@filter" is the context or project. For example, running Todo Indicator with "-f @work" will only display todo items that contain the "@work" context. For more about the Todo.txt format, see THIS page.

For those not familiar with todo.txt, this is a minimalist todo list format for which the data is stored in a simple text file. Because it uses a simple text file, the todo can easily be edited without needing to install extra software and it can be synchronized across devices using any cloud sync service. Furthermore, there are todo.txt apps available for pretty much any operating system (mobile clients and command line tools included).

Install Todo Indicator in Ubuntu or Linux Mint

Since the original Todo Indicator hasn't been updated in a long time, I decided to replace the Todo Indicator package from the main WebUpd8 PPA with William's fork.To add the PPA and install the app in Ubuntu or Linux Mint, use the following commands:

Note that you won't find Todo Indicator in the menu. To start it for the first time, press ALT + F2 and type "todo-indicato todo.txt". This will create a todo.txt file in your home folder (if it doesn't already exist), but you can also specify a different filename as well as its path.

The WebUpd8 package sets Todo Indicator to start automatically on system startup. By default it uses a todo.txt file in your home folder (which it creates if it doesn't exist). If you want to change the filename and path, copy the todo-indicator.desktop file from /etc/xdg/autostart/ to ~/.config/autostart/ and edit it to point to a different file.